1. Technical Field
Exemplary aspects of the present invention generally relate to a cooling device that cools a recording medium such as a sheet of paper, and an image forming apparatus including the cooling device.
2. Related Art
Related-art image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines, and multifunction devices having two or more of copying, printing, and facsimile functions, typically form a toner image on a recording medium (e.g., a sheet of paper, etc.) according to image data using an electrophotographic method. In such a method, for example, a charger charges a surface of an image carrier (e.g., a photoconductor); an irradiating device emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor according to the image data; a developing device develops the electrostatic latent image with a developer (e.g., toner) to form a toner image on the photoconductor; a transfer device transfers the toner image formed on the photoconductor onto a sheet of recording media; and a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the sheet bearing the toner image to fix the toner image onto the sheet. The sheet bearing the fixed toner image is then discharged from the image forming apparatus.
An example of a widely used fixing device is a heat fixing device including a fixing member such as a fixing roller or a fixing belt heated by a heat source and a pressing member such as a pressing roller that presses against the fixing member. A sheet of paper or the like having an unfixed toner image thereon is conveyed between the fixing member and the pressing member so as to fix the toner image onto the sheet at the nip using heat and pressure.
To cool the sheet thus heated by the heat fixing device after fixing of the toner image onto the sheet, a heat pipe that transfers the heat from the sheet to the exterior of the device is often used as a cooling member.
In general, a radiator provided with radiating fins or the like is provided to an end of the heat pipe, and an air blower such as a fan blows air onto the radiator to dissipate the heat. The radiator and the air blower are generally covered with a duct member to enhance cooling efficiency.
However, the configuration of the related-art cooling device, in which a shaft of the heat pipe is inserted into holes formed in the duct member, hinders attachment and detachment of the heat pipe to and from the cooling device.
Further, a gap is generated between the heat pipe and the holes, possibly resulting in leakage of cool air outside from the cooling device.